The study and genetic manipulation of plants has a long history that began even before the framed studies of Gregor Mendel. In perfecting this science, scientists have accomplished modification of particular traits in plants ranging from potato tubers having increased starch content to oilseed plants such as canola and sunflower having increased or altered fatty acid content. With the increased consumption and use of plant oils, the modification of seed oil content and seed oil levels has become increasingly widespread (e.g. Töpfer et al., 1995, Science 268:681-686). Manipulation of biosynthetic pathways in transgenic plants provides a number of opportunities for molecular biologists and plant biochemists to affect plant metabolism giving rise to the production of specific higher-value products. The seed oil production or composition has been altered in numerous traditional oilseed plants such as soybean (U.S. Pat. No. 5,955,650), canola (U.S. Pat. No. 5,955,650), sunflower (U.S. Pat. No. 6,084,164), and rapeseed (Töpfer et al., 1995, Science 268:681-686), and non-traditional oilseed plants such as tobacco (Cahoon et al., 1992, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89:11184-11188).
Plant seed oils comprise both neutral and polar lipids (See Table 1). The neutral lipids contain primarily triacylglycerol, which is the main storage lipid that accumulates in oil bodies in seeds. The polar lipids are mainly found in the various membranes of the seed cells, e.g. the endoplasmic reticulum, microsomal membranes and the cell membrane. The neutral and polar lipids contain several common fatty acids (See Table 2) and a range of less common fatty acids. Lipids indicated by an asterisk in Table 2 do not normally occur in plant seed oils, but their production in transgenic plant seed oil is of importance in plant biotechnology. The fatty acid composition of membrane lipids is highly regulated, and only a select number of fatty acids are found in membrane lipids. On the other hand, a large number of unusual fatty acids can be incorporated into the neutral storage lipids in seeds of many plant species (Van de Loo et al., 1993, Unusual Fatty Acids in Lipid Metabolism in Plants pp. 91-126, editor T S Moore Jr. CRC Press; Millar et al., 2000, Trends Plant Sci. 5:95-101).
TABLE 1Plant Lipid ClassesNeutral LipidsTriacylglycerol (TAG)Diacylglycerol (DAG)Monoacylglycerol (MAG)Polar LipidsMonogalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGDG)Digalactosyldiacylglycerol (DGDG)Phosphatidylglycerol (PG)Phosphatidylcholine (PC)Phosphatidylethanolamine (PE)Phosphatidylinositol (PI)Phosphatidylserine (PS)Sulfoquinovosyldiacylglycerol
TABLE 2Common Plant Fatty Acids16:0Palmitic acid16:1Palmitoleic acid16:3Palmitolenic acid18:0Stearic acid18:1Oleic acid18:2Linoleic acid18:3Linolenic acidγ-18:3  Gamma-linolenic acid*20:0Arachidic acid20:1Eicosenoic acid22:6Docosahexanoic acid (DHA) *20:2Eicosadienoic acid20:4Arachidonic acid (AA) *20:5Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) *22:1Erucic acid
Lipids are synthesized from fatty acids, and their synthesis may be divided into two parts: the prokaryotic pathway and the eukaryotic pathway (Browse et al., 1986, Biochemical J. 235:25-31; Ohlrogge & Browse, 1995, Plant Cell 7:957-970). The prokaryotic pathway is located in plastids that are the primary site of fatty acid biosynthesis. Fatty acid synthesis begins with the conversion of acetyl-CoA to malonyl-CoA by acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACCase). Malonyl-CoA is converted to malonyl-acyl carrier protein (ACP) by the malonyl-CoA:ACP transacylase. The enzyme beta-keto-acyl-ACP-synthase III (KAS III) catalyzes a condensation reaction, in which the acyl group from acetyl-CoA is transferred to malonyl-ACP to form 3-ketobutyryl-ACP. In a subsequent series of condensation, reduction, and dehydration reactions, the nascent fatty acid chain on the ACP cofactor is elongated by the step-by-step addition (condensation) of two carbon atoms donated by malonyl-ACP until a 16- or 18-carbon saturated fatty acid chain is formed. The plastidial delta-9 acyl-ACP desaturase introduces the first unsaturated double bond into the fatty acid. Thioesterases cleave the fatty acids from the ACP cofactor, and free fatty acids are exported to the cytoplasm where they participate as fatty acyl-CoA esters in the eukaryotic pathway. In this pathway, the fatty acids are esterified by glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase and lysophosphatidic acid acyl-transferase to the sn-1 and sn-2 positions of glycerol-3-phosphate, respectively, to yield phosphatidic acid (PA). The PA is the precursor for other polar and neutral lipids, the latter being formed in the Kennedy pathway (Voelker, 1996, Genetic Engineering ed.:Setlow 18:111-113; Shanklin & Cahoon, 1998, Annu. Rev. Plant Physiol. Plant Mol. Biol. 49:611-641; Frentzen, 1998, Lipids 100:161-166; Millar et al., 2000, Trends Plant Sci. 5:95-101).
Storage lipids in seeds are synthesized from carbohydrate-derived precursors. Plants have a complete glycolytic pathway in the cytosol (Plaxton, 1996, Annu. Rev. Plant Physiol. Plant Mol. Biol. 47:185-214), and it has been shown that a complete pathway also exists in the plastids of rapeseeds (Kang & Rawsthorne, 1994, Plant J. 6:795-805). Sucrose is the primary source of carbon and energy, transported from the leaves into the developing seeds. During the storage phase of seeds, sucrose is converted in the cytosol to provide the metabolic precursors glucose-6-phosphate and pyruvate. These are transported into the plastids and converted into acetyl-CoA that serves as the primary precursor for the synthesis of fatty acids. Acetyl-CoA in the plastids is the central precursor for lipid biosynthesis. Acetyl-CoA can be formed in the plastids by different reactions and the exact contribution of each reaction is still being debated (Ohlrogge & Browse, 1995, Plant Cell 7:957-970). It is accepted, however, that a large part of the acetyl-CoA is derived from glucose-6-phosphate and pyruvate that are imported from the cytoplasm into the plastids. Sucrose is produced in the source organs (leaves, or anywhere that photosynthesis occurs) and is transported to the developing seeds that are also termed sink organs. In the developing seeds, sucrose is the precursor for all the storage compounds, i.e. starch, lipids, and partly the seed storage proteins. Therefore, it is clear that carbohydrate metabolism, in which sucrose plays a central role is very important to the accumulation of seed storage compounds.
Storage compounds such as triacylglycerols (seed oil) serve as carbon and energy reserves, which are used during germination and growth of the young seedling. Seed (vegetable) oil is also an essential component of the human diet and a valuable commodity providing feed stocks for the chemical industry. A mutant of Arabidopsis affected in seed storage compound metabolism is wrinkled1 (wri1) (Focks and Benning, 1998). The mutant is characterized by a 80% reduction in seed oil content. Additionally, expression of genes involved in sugar metabolism seems to be affected.
Although the lipid and fatty acid content and/or composition of seed oil can be modified by the traditional methods of plant breeding, the advent of recombinant DNA technology has allowed for easier manipulation of the seed oil content of a plant, and in some cases, has allowed for the alteration of seed oils in ways that could not be accomplished by breeding alone (See, e.g., Töpfer et al., 1995, Science 268:681-686). For example, introduction of a Δ12-hydroxylase nucleic acid sequence into transgenic tobacco resulted in the introduction of a novel fatty acid, ricinoleic acid, into the tobacco seed oil (Van de Loo et al., 1995, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 92:6743-6747). Tobacco plants have also been engineered to produce low levels of petroselinic acid by the introduction and expression of an acyl-ACP desaturase from coriander (Cahoon et al., 1992, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89:11184-11188).
The modification of seed oil content in plants has significant medical, nutritional, and economic ramifications. With regard to the medical ramifications, the long chain fatty acids (C18 and longer) found in many seed oils have been linked to reductions in hypercholesterolemia and other clinical disorders related to coronary heart disease (Brenner, 1976, Adv. Exp. Med. Biol. 83:85-101). Therefore, consumption of a plant having increased levels of these types of fatty acids may reduce the risk of heart disease. Enhanced levels of seed oil content also increase large-scale production of seed oils and thereby reduce the cost of these oils.
In order to increase or alter the levels of compounds such as seed oils in plants, nucleic acid sequences and proteins regulating lipid and fatty acid metabolism must be identified. As mentioned earlier, several desaturase nucleic acids such as the Δ6-desaturase nucleic acid, Δ12-desaturase nucleic acid, and acyl-ACP desaturase nucleic acids have been cloned and demonstrated to encode enzymes required for fatty acid synthesis in various plant species. Oleosin nucleic acid sequences from such different species as canola, soybean, carrot, pine, and Arabidopsis thaliana also have been cloned and determined to encode proteins associated with the phospholipid monolayer membrane of oil bodies in those plants.
It has also been determined that two phytohormones, gibberellic acid (GA) and absisic acid (ABA), are involved in overall regulatory processes in seed development (e.g. Ritchie & Gilroy, 1998, Plant Physiol. 116:765-776; Arenas-Huertero et al., 2000, Genes Dev. 14:2085-2096). Both the GA and ABA pathways are affected by okadaic acid, a protein phosphatase inhibitor (Kuo et al., 1996, Plant Cell. 8:259-269). The regulation of protein phosphorylation by kinases and phosphatases is accepted as a universal mechanism of cellular control (Cohen, 1992, Trends Biochem. Sci. 17:408-413). Likewise, the plant hormones ethylene (See, e.g., Zhou et al., 1998, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95:10294-10299; Beaudoin et al., 2000, Plant Cell 2000:1103-1115) and auxin (e.g. Colon-Carmona et al., 2000, Plant Physiol. 124:1728-1738) are involved in controlling plant development as well.
Although several compounds are known that generally affect plant and seed development, there is a clear need to specifically identify factors that are more specific for the developmental regulation of storage compound accumulation and to identify genes which have the capacity to confer altered or increased oil production to its host plant and to other plant species. This invention discloses nucleic acid sequences from Arabidopsis thaliana, Brassica napus, Glycine max, Oryza sativa, or Triticum aestivum. These nucleic acid sequences can be used to alter or increase the levels of seed storage compounds such as proteins, sugars, and oils in plants, including transgenic plants, such as canola, linseed, soybean, sunflower, maize, oat, rye, barley, wheat, rice, pepper, tagetes, cotton, oil palm, coconut palm, flax, castor, and peanut, which are oilseed plants containing high amounts of lipid compounds.